Healthy Eating: Excess salt is causing too many problems

Wednesday

Aug 18, 2010 at 12:01 AMAug 18, 2010 at 6:16 PM

Excess salt in the American diet is causing too many deaths, chronic disease, and disability, and costing us billions in health care dollars, yet today Americans get more than ever before and the culprit isn’t necessarily the salt shaker.

Joan Endkye

Excess salt in the American diet is causing too many deaths, chronic disease, and disability, and costing us billions in health care dollars, yet today Americans get more than ever before and the culprit isn’t necessarily the salt shaker.

An estimated 80 percent of the sodium we consume is from supermarket and restaurant foods. Government agencies have been asking the food industry for years to cut back, but it hasn’t happened and the health of our nation has suffered.

According to The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a nonprofit group, lowering salt intake could prevent 92,000 deaths and 66,000 strokes annually and could prevent 99,000 people from having a heart attack – saving $10 billion to $24 billion yearly in health care costs.

Too much salt stiffens arteries and raises blood pressure, making the heart work harder getting blood into small vessels. This tears and ruptures vessels throughout the body. The repair work clogs arteries over time, increasing the risk of stroke, heart attack, heart failure, impotence, kidney damage and dementia.

In April, The Institute of Medicine (IOM) urged the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the amount of sodium companies can add to foods, and CSPI is pushing for restaurants to include sodium amounts on menus.

Research finds excess salt is toxic to blood vessels, even in the absence of high blood pressure, making it prudent for Americans to cut back. Soon to be released dietary guidelines will reduce sodium recommendations from 2,300 milligrams to 1,500 milligrams daily; roughly half of what most Americans are currently consuming.

Considering that a meal at Olive Garden of lasagna, bread stick, salad and dressing is estimated to provide more than 6,000 milligrams of sodium and a smoked turkey breast sandwich at Panera Bread has close to 2,000 milligrams, it’s not surprising government agencies are screaming for change.

You can check website menus for sodium values, and ask Chinese restaurants to prepare your order without MSG (monosodium glutamate) and other restaurant chefs to prepare your meal without salt. If that doesn’t work, speak with your pocketbook and eat at home more often.

In the supermarket, check food labels aiming for less than 500 milligrams per meal, or less than 5 percent of the daily value (120 milligrams per serving) per item. Some of the biggest offenders are tomato sauce, packaged rice, and canned soups – all contain more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium per cup. You can choose plain rice or use a quarter of the seasoning packet, buy unsalted canned tomatoes, or consider making your own sauce or soup.

Fresh poultry, fish, and meats contain less than 100 milligrams of sodium, but when processed, like say in a frozen dinner, the meal can jump to more than 1,000 milligrams.

Put the salt shaker away. Even 1 teaspoon is too much at 2,400 milligrams of sodium. Sea salt and kosher salt have larger crystals but still deliver more than 2,000 milligrams per teaspoon. In cooking, add more spices or try using Morton’s Lite Salt, which contains half the sodium of table salt.

Joan Endyke is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition and food science, and also a certified personal trainer. She is the nutrition director at Fitness Unlimited.

Readers may send questions about nutrition to Endyke at Fitness Unlimited, 364 Granite Ave., Milton, MA 02186 or by e-mail to jendyke@fitnessunlimited.com.

The information in this column is not intended to diagnose individual conditions. Readers should see their doctors about specific problems.